Themistius: On Aristotle On the Soul

Themistius: On Aristotle On the Soul PDF Author: Robert B. Todd
Publisher: A&C Black
ISBN: 1472501861
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 256

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Book Description
Themistius ran his philosophical school in Constantinople in the middle of the fourth century A.D. His paraphrases of Aristotle's writings are unlike the elaborate commentaries produced by Alexander of Aphrodisias, or the later Neoplatonists Simplicius and Philoponus. His aim was to provide a clear and independent restatement of Aristotle's text which would be accessible as an elementary exegesis. But he also discusses important philosophical problems, reports and disagrees with other commentaries including the lost commentary of Porphyry, and offers interpretations of Plato. Themistius' paraphrase of Aristotle's On the Soul is his most important and influential work. It is also the first extant commentary on this work of Aristotle to survive from antiquity. A rival to that of Alexander of Aphrodisias, it represents one of the main interpretations of Aristotle's theory of the intellect, which was debated throughout the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. It continues to be an important text for the reconstruction of Aristotle's philosophical psychology today.

Themistius: On Aristotle On the Soul

Themistius: On Aristotle On the Soul PDF Author: Robert B. Todd
Publisher: A&C Black
ISBN: 1472501861
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 256

Get Book Here

Book Description
Themistius ran his philosophical school in Constantinople in the middle of the fourth century A.D. His paraphrases of Aristotle's writings are unlike the elaborate commentaries produced by Alexander of Aphrodisias, or the later Neoplatonists Simplicius and Philoponus. His aim was to provide a clear and independent restatement of Aristotle's text which would be accessible as an elementary exegesis. But he also discusses important philosophical problems, reports and disagrees with other commentaries including the lost commentary of Porphyry, and offers interpretations of Plato. Themistius' paraphrase of Aristotle's On the Soul is his most important and influential work. It is also the first extant commentary on this work of Aristotle to survive from antiquity. A rival to that of Alexander of Aphrodisias, it represents one of the main interpretations of Aristotle's theory of the intellect, which was debated throughout the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. It continues to be an important text for the reconstruction of Aristotle's philosophical psychology today.

"Matter of Glorious Trial"

Author: N. K. Sugimura
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300135599
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 432

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Book Description
This groundbreaking book, the first to examine Milton's thinking about matter and substance throughout his entire poetic career, seeks to alter the prevailing critical view that Milton was a monist-materialist--one who believes that all things are composed of material and all phenomena (including consciousness) are the result of material interactions. Based on her close study of the philosophical movements of Milton's mind, Sugimura discovers the "fluid intermediaries" in his poetry that are neither strictly material nor immaterial. In doing so, Sugimura uses Paradise Lost as a fascinating window into the intersection of literature and philosophy, and of literary studies and intellectual history. Sugimura finds that Milton displays a tense and ambiguous relationship with the idealistic dualism of Plato and the materialism of Aristotle and she argues for a more nuanced interpretation of Milton's metaphysics.

Brill’s Companion to the Reception of Aristotle in Antiquity

Brill’s Companion to the Reception of Aristotle in Antiquity PDF Author:
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004315403
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 528

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Book Description
Brill’s Companion to the Reception of Aristotle provides a systematic yet accessible account of the reception of Aristotle’s philosophy in Antiquity. To date, there has been no comprehensive attempt to explain this complex phenomenon. This volume fills this lacuna by offering broad coverage of the subject from Hellenistic times to the sixth century AD. It is laid out chronologically and the 23 articles are divided into three sections: I. The Hellenistic Reception of Aristotle; II. The Post-Hellenistic Engagement with Aristotle; III. Aristotle in Late Antiquity. Topics include Aristotle and the Stoa, Andronicus of Rhodes and the construction of the Aristotelian corpus, the return to Aristotle in the first century BC, and the role of Alexander of Aphrodisias and Porphyry in the transmission of Aristotle's philosophy to Late Antiquity.

Ancient Greek Cosmogony

Ancient Greek Cosmogony PDF Author: Andrew Gregory
Publisher: A&C Black
ISBN: 1849667926
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 327

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Book Description
Ancient Greek Cosmogony is the first detailed, comprehensive account of ancient Greek theories of the origins of the world. It covers the period from 800 BC to 600 AD, beginning with myths concerning the creation of the world; the cosmogonies of all the major Greek and Roman thinkers; and the debate between Greek philosophical cosmogony and early Christian views. It argues that Greeks formulated many of the perennial problems of philosophical cosmogony and produced philosophically and scientifically interesting answers. The atomists argued that our world was one among many worlds, and came about by chance. Plato argued that it is unique, and the product of design. Empedocles and the Stoics, in quite different ways, argued that there was an unending cycle whereby the world is generated, destroyed and generated again. Aristotle on the other hand argued that there was no such thing as cosmogony, and the world has always existed. Reactions to, and developments of, these ideas are traced through Hellenistic philosophy and the debates in early Christianity on whether God created the world from nothing or from some pre-existing chaos. The book examines issues of the origins of life and the elements for the ancient Greeks, and how the cosmos will come to an end. It argues that there were several interesting debates between Greek philosophers on the fundamental principles of cosmogony, and that these debates were influential on the development of Greek philosophy and science.

Aristotle on Human Nature

Aristotle on Human Nature PDF Author: Gregory Kirk
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1350348333
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 241

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Book Description
Exploring Aristotle's concept of logos, this volume advances our understanding of it as a singular feature of human nature by arguing that it is the organizing principle of human life itself. Tracing its multiple meanings in different contexts, including reason, logic, speech, ratio, account, and form, contributors highlight the ways in which we can see logos in human thinking, in the organizing principles of our bodies, in our perception of the world, in our social and political life, and through our productive and fine arts. Through this focus, logos reveals itself not as one feature amongst others, but instead as the feature that organizes all others, from the most “animal” to the most “spiritual.” By presenting logos in this way, readers gain a complex account of the philosophy of human nature.

Later Stoicism 155 BC to AD 200

Later Stoicism 155 BC to AD 200 PDF Author: Brad Inwood
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107029791
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 597

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Book Description
The most comprehensive collection of passages from later Stoic thinkers, providing fresh translations and up-to-date commentary.

Athenian and Alexandrian Neoplatonism and the Harmonization of Aristotle and Plato

Athenian and Alexandrian Neoplatonism and the Harmonization of Aristotle and Plato PDF Author: Ilsetraut Hadot
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004281592
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 198

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Book Description
Athenian and Alexandrian Neoplatonism and the Harmonization of Aristotle and Plato by I. Hadot deals with the Neoplatonist tendency to harmonize the philosophies of Plato and Aristotle. It shows that this harmonizing tendency, born in Middle Platonism, prevailed in Neoplatonism from Porphyry and Iamblichus, where it persisted until the end of this philosophy. Hadot aims to illustrate that it is not the different schools themselves, for instance those of Athens and Alexandria, that differ from one another by the intensity of the will to harmonization, but groups of philosophers within these schools.

Aristotle and Neoplatonism in Late Antiquity

Aristotle and Neoplatonism in Late Antiquity PDF Author: H. J. Blumenthal
Publisher: Cornell University Press
ISBN: 9780801433368
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 268

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Book Description
"H. J. Blumenthal is such an eminent scholar in the field of Neoplatonic Studies, and the scholarship exhibited by this book is so wide-ranging and impressive, that I would venture to say that this is the most important book on Neoplatonism to be published since Dominic O'Meara's Pythagoras Revived." —Steven Strange, Emory UniversityScholars have traditionally used the Aristotelian commentators as sources for lost philosophical works and occasionally also as aids to understanding Aristotle. In H. J. Blumenthal's view, however, the commentators often assumed that there was a Platonist philosophy to which not only they but Aristotle himself subscribed. Their expository writing usually expressed their versions of Neoplatonist philosophy. Blumenthal here places the commentators in their intellectual and historical contexts, identifies their philosophical views, and demonstrates their tendency to read Aristotle as if he were a member of their philosophical circle.This book focuses on the commentators' exposition of Aristotle's treatise De anima (On the Soul), because it is relatively well documented and because the concept of soul was so important in all Neoplatonic systems. Blumenthal explains how the Neoplatonizing of Aristotle's thought, as well as the widespread use of the commentators' works, influenced the understanding of Aristotle in both the Islamic and Judaeo-Christian traditions.H. J. Blumenthal is the author or coeditor of six previous books and is currently preparing a two-volume translation, with introduction and commentary, of Simplicius' Commentary on "De anima" for publication in Cornell's series Ancient Commentators on Aristotle.

Self

Self PDF Author: Richard Sorabji
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 0226768309
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 413

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Book Description
Drawing on classical antiquity and Western and Eastern philosophy, Richard Sorabji tackles in Self the question of whether there is such a thing as the individual self or only a stream of consciousness. According to Sorabji, the self is not an undetectable soul or ego, but an embodied individual whose existence is plain to see. Unlike a mere stream of consciousness, it is something that owns not only a consciousness but also a body. Sorabji traces historically the retreat from a positive idea of self and draws out the implications of these ideas of self on the concepts of life and death, asking: Should we fear death? How should our individuality affect the way we live? Through an astute reading of a huge array of traditions, he helps us come to terms with our uneasiness about the subject of self in an account that will be at the forefront of philosophical debates for years to come. “There has never been a book remotely like this one in its profusion of ancient references on ideas about human identity and selfhood . . . . Readers unfamiliar with the subject also need to know that Sorabji breaks new ground in giving special attention to philosophers such as Epictetus and other Stoics, Plotinus and later Neoplatonists, and the ancient commentators on Aristotle (on the last of whom he is the world's leading authority).”—Anthony A. Long, Times Literary Supplement

Aristotle’s Ever-turning World in Physics 8: Analysis and Commentary

Aristotle’s Ever-turning World in Physics 8: Analysis and Commentary PDF Author: Dougal Blyth
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004302387
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 434

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Book Description
In Aristotle’s Ever-turning World in Physics 8 Dougal Blyth analyses, passage by passage, Aristotle’s reasoning in his explanation of cosmic movement, and provides a detailed evaluation of ancient and modern commentary on this centrally influential text in the history of ancient and medieval philosophy and science. In Physics 8 Aristotle argues for the everlastingness of the world, and explains this as deriving from a single first moved body, the sphere of the stars whose rotation around the earth is caused by an immaterial prime mover. Blyth’s explanation of Aristotle’s individual arguments, techniques of reasoning and overall strategy in Physics 8 aims to bring understanding of his method, doctrines and achievements in natural philosophy to a new level of clarity.